Glossary
Why create a food ration together?
Creating a suitable and efficient diet requires collaboration between three parties: your pet (considering their preferences, habits, and clinical/medical condition), you (your perceptions and desires), and myself, the veterinary nutrition specialist who utilises my expertise and experience to assist you. If your veterinarian referred you to me, they are the fourth party, providing medical knowledge of your pet and their clinical expertise to help me establish the evaluation and determine your pet's follow-up plan.
Why are your feelings and wishes essential when choosing your pet's diet?
Your input is crucial as the one responsible for buying, preparing, and feeding your pet daily. Your knowledge of your pet's food preferences and tolerance to different foods, based on past experiences, can provide valuable information to help make the best decision.
Malnutrition: definition and importance in nutritional management
Malnutrition is poor nutritional status due to excessive, insufficient and/or unbalanced nutrition. Your animal's food history and examination may highlight these abnormalities, which must be corrected according to your animal’s specific needs.
What is the risk of malnutrition, and how can it be prevented?
A diet that is not balanced, sudden weight changes, poor body condition, frequent illness, loss of appetite, pain, sensory problems, or difficulty eating can increase the likelihood of malnutrition. By assessing the risk of malnutrition, steps can be taken to avoid this harmful state and ensure your animal's health and well-being.
A scientifically validated scale of body condition scores ranges from 1 to 9 (1 = thinness; 9 = obesity). This scale helps assess the overweight state of cats and dogs through observation and palpation. Using this scale, one can estimate the optimal weight of the animal, which is essential for calculating their nutritional requirements. This scale also applies to growing animals, and I can teach you how to practise it if you're interested.
What is the meaning of muscle mass score?
This assessment aims to determine if an animal is experiencing amyotrophia, which is a reduction in muscle mass. It is important to note that only generalised amyotrophia, affecting all muscle groups, can be caused by diet. If you would like, I can teach you how to perform this assessment.
Why is nutritional status essential, and how is it defined?
Nutritional status refers to an individual's overall health associated with their diet. It is determined by collecting and analysing various information from the consultation and can be used as a point of comparison for further check-ups. This assessment helps to identify areas that require improvement and sets parameters for monitoring the effectiveness of your diet. It is also essential for your treating veterinarian to have this information to ensure proper medical follow-up.
What does Nutritional profile mean, and how customised it can be to my animal?
A nutritional profile refers to the quantity of energy, water, macronutrients (such as protein, fat, fibre, and carbohydrates), minerals, trace elements, and vitamins required by your animal. Additional ingredients or supplements may be added to the list as necessary. The nutritional profile can be tailored to meet your animal's specific needs.
Each nutrient will be adapted to your choice of diet type, your animal's clinical/medical condition, the risk of malnutrition and their nutritional status defined during the consultation. The prescription is personalised and unique to you and your pet.
